Chapter 13 - FORTY-THREE MINUTES
The alarm was disabled for forty-three minutes.
That was the number Ruiz wrote on the whiteboard when the forensic engineer finished explaining the recovered system logs. The original report had described the interruption as a routine test. The engineer's review showed that someone had used an administrative credential to suppress alerts in the east wing beginning just before Victor's false warehouse call drew Lucas away from the estate.
The same credential had been used to reset the alarm after emergency services arrived.
"Can you identify the person?" the prosecutor asked.
"Not from the credential alone. It was assigned to facilities, but several people knew the password at the time. The access pattern can be compared with workstation logs and building entries."
Ruiz circled the time window. "And the fire started inside it."
"According to the current estimated timeline, yes. That estimate has a margin of uncertainty."
The prosecutor nodded. Precision mattered. A forty-three-minute window was a powerful clue, but no one would be helped by pretending a log could name the person who set a fire.
Lucas attended the briefing through counsel. When he heard the start time, he remembered standing beside his car, annoyed that Victor had called him to the warehouse over what sounded like a minor problem. He remembered refusing a call from Isabella because he was arguing with a supervisor.
"What happened to that missed call?" Ruiz asked.
"I thought it would still be in my phone records. I changed phones afterward. My attorney can request the archived account records."
The investigators had already obtained some records, but Lucas's recollection helped narrow the search. The provider confirmed a short call from Isabella during the window. No recording existed. Lucas could never know what she had wanted to say.
He had to leave the room for several minutes.
In the corridor, he followed the breathing technique his doctor had taught him. He checked his symptoms, used his prescribed treatment as directed, and sat until he could speak comfortably. His attorney remained nearby without treating the pause as weakness.
"Do you want to continue?" the attorney asked.
"Yes. I need the record to be complete."
That afternoon, Grace learned about the alarm window from a public filing. She worried first about Lily. The child had asked lately whether a house could catch fire even if it had lots of guards. Grace had answered that safety came from working alarms, clear exits, and adults following emergency plans—not from expensive gates.
Now the news suggested that someone had turned an alarm off deliberately. Grace decided Lily did not need the details of the filing. She did need to know that adults took fire safety seriously.
They reviewed the apartment's exit plan, checked the smoke alarm, and agreed where to meet outside. Lily drew a bright yellow star beside the meeting place on the page.
"What if I can't find my inhaler?" she asked.
"We'll keep it where we can reach it, with the backup and your doctor's instructions," Grace said. "If there is an emergency, the adults will help you get to safety. You don't have to solve everything."
Lily looked relieved. "Can I still bring my piano book?"
"Not during an emergency. People come first."
"Even if it's my favorite book?"
"Even then."
At the mansion, Helen Cho ordered a separate review of every alarm override still permitted on the property. The engineer found that a modern system could record a maintenance interruption without silencing unrelated smoke detectors. Helen insisted on two-person approval for planned tests, automatic alerts to an external monitoring service, and logs that no single employee could erase.
Lucas asked whether the new policy could be audited by someone outside the Moretti organization.
"It should be," Helen said. "Otherwise we are asking the family to trust a report written by the same people who operate the equipment."
He approved the independent audit and asked for the results to be sent directly to the security director and relevant authorities, not filtered through his personal office.
Meanwhile, forensic accountants traced the alarm-isolation payment to a company that had billed Victor for other services. One invoice referred to replacing an obsolete panel in the east wing. Another listed labor hours for a technician whose name could not be matched to any payroll record. The firm had closed, but its bank statements survived. A withdrawal had been made in cash the day after the fire.
The investigator cautioned that the withdrawal could have many explanations. The connection between the payment and the disabled alarm was suspicious, not yet conclusive.
Peter Vale was questioned again. He said the maintenance work had been scheduled because the panel was unreliable. Asked why there was no advance notice to the monitoring service, he said Victor had wanted the test handled quietly to avoid alarming guests. Asked why the alarm was restored only after emergency services arrived, he could not explain.
His attorney ended the interview. Ruiz recorded the unanswered questions and requested additional records.
In the public imagination, the case was already solved. Headlines accused Victor of arranging the fire and asked whether Lucas had been complicit. A television commentator described the Moretti estate as a palace of violence. Another suggested that Lily's rescue of Lucas was evidence of a family redemption story.
Grace hated both versions. Her daughter had responded to an adult medical emergency, and she had done so because she recognized distress and knew to seek help. She was not a public symbol. Neither was Isabella's death an entertainment plot for people who had never met her.
When a reporter called the community organization asking for a statement from Lily, Nadine declined the request. She also reminded staff not to share attendance records or family contact details. The organization could discuss asthma education as a public-health issue without exposing a child.
That evening, Lucas phoned Grace to ask whether Lily had heard about the alarm.
"She knows adults are reviewing what happened to your family," Grace said. "She does not know the technical details. I want it to stay that way unless her counselor advises otherwise."
"Agreed."
"And please tell your communications people not to answer questions about her."
"I've already instructed them to direct everything to you or decline. She is not a Moretti spokesperson."
Grace let out a breath. "Thank you."
After the call, Lucas opened Isabella's old music notebook. Between two compositions she had written a shopping reminder and a note about Daniel's pirate costume. He had been tempted to search every page for another warning, but the ordinary entries made him stop. Isabella had been a whole person, not a witness whose life existed only to leave clues.
He read one page, then closed the book.
The next morning, Ruiz received a recovered email from the contractor's former accountant. It contained a short message from Peter Vale asking that the east-wing alarm job be billed under general facilities rather than listed as a security modification. The accountant had questioned the coding and been told it came from Victor's office.
That message gave investigators a new witness and a new route through the invoices. It still did not prove who had touched the alarm or how the fire began. The prosecutor would need the technical records, witness testimony, and independent fire analysis to build a reliable account.
Lucas learned of the email at the end of a compliance meeting. He did not call Peter to demand an explanation. He did not send private investigators to frighten anyone. He asked his lawyer to confirm that all relevant company documents had been preserved and that staff could cooperate without retaliation.
He then went to an appointment with his pulmonologist, where he admitted that the stress had made him neglect his regular sleep schedule. The doctor reviewed his treatment plan and emphasized that medication, monitoring, and rest mattered even during a crisis. Lucas agreed to follow the recommendations instead of treating his body as an inconvenience.
Back at the mansion, Lily's drawing remained beside the photograph of Isabella and Daniel. In the picture, the sunroom windows were enormous, and the piano had far too many keys. Daniel wore his pirate hat and stood beside a girl he had never met.
Lucas looked at it for a long time.
He could not change the forty-three minutes. He could not answer Isabella's missed call or walk back into the house before the fire. He could decide how the next forty-three minutes of his life would be spent.
He used them to review an independent report, call his doctor about a prescription renewal, and write a clear answer to a question from a former employee who feared retaliation for speaking with investigators.
The answer was short: You are free to cooperate. Your employment will not be conditioned on protecting anyone's account of the past.
May you like
He signed it and asked compliance to send it through the official channel.
Forty-three minutes had once been enough time for a system to fail catastrophically. Now Lucas intended to spend time building systems that did not depend on one powerful man's mood.
